Pablo Picasso
1881-1973 | Spanish
Guitare sur un guéridon
TABL E O F CO N TE N TS
Painting Overview . . ....................... 4 Literature..................................... 6 Exhibited.. .................................... 9 Auction Record.. ......................... 10 Auction Comparables................. 11 Museum Comparables................ 13
Gouache on Western wove paper laid on board | Dated 1920 Signed “Picasso” (upper left) Paper: 11" high x 8 1/4" wide | 27.94 cm x 20.64 cm Frame: 22 5/8" high x 19 5/8" wide x 1 1/2" deep 57.15 cm x 49.85 cm x 3.81 cm
The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. - Pablo Picasso
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O V E R V I EW
P
icasso’s prolific career has been marked by many grand love affairs, both romantic, intellectual and creative. Beyond his lovers like Olga Khoklova and Dora Maar and his intellectual muses like Georges Braque and Gertrude Stein, Picasso’s greatest love and inspiration was perhaps a humble instrument: the guitar. Whether it be the Old Guitarist from his early blue period, his groundbreaking series of three-dimensional guitar sculptures from his nascent explorations in Cubism, or his explorations with color and biomorphic shapes in his Mandolin and Guitar, the guitar is an elusive calling card for modern art’s greatest genius. In Guitare sur un guéridon, Picasso intertwines his signature guitar and a bowl of fruit. These two elements are playfully brought together and skillfully anchored on the tabletop by a square positioned at the center of the composition. The result is a captivating and harmonious arrangement that showcases Picasso's artistic ingenuity in blending these everyday objects into a visually striking and cohesive composition. This rare gouache was created during the pivotal summer of 1920. During this time, Picasso lived in Juan-les-Pins, a small coastal resort town in the South of France away from the confines of the city and the fallout of World War I. With this newfound freedom, Picasso entered an exciting and innovative creative period and began to interrogate the connections between Neoclassicism and Cubism. He created a series of gouache paintings characterized by their flat, geometric nature, sinuous contours and strikingly vivid colors. Though not a complete departure from his previous Cubist works, this series showcased the influence of the Surrealists, especially the biomorphic subconscious explorations of Joan Miró, upon Picasso’s oeuvre. While the breadth of his creativity grew, he returned to a familiar motif — the guitar — with a renewed sense of vigor and excitement. In Guitare sur un guéridon the sinuous lines of the guitar mirror the sensuous lines of the female form — the other most prevalent subject in Picasso's oeuvre. This beautiful and colorful gouache work illustrates the seminal movement in Picasso's oeuvre from Analytic Cubism toward the
evolved sensual, biomorphic style that would characterize Picasso's later works. Similar gouaches from this time can be found in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Born in 1881 in Málaga, Spain, Picasso spent his childhood studying drawing and painting under his father, Jose Ruíz, who taught at the local art school. Picasso spent a year at the Academy of Arts in Madrid, before traveling to Paris in 1900. Landing in the center of the European art world, Picasso began to mingle in the company of other artists, quickly establishing himself as a critical figure in the thriving Parisian art scene. Pushing the boundaries of his own creativity throughout his long career, Picasso devoted himself to artistic production. The result was one of the richest and most important oeuvres in art history. ●
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OVERVIEW
PROVENANCE Justin K. Tannhauser, New York Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland Sale, Sotheby's, New York, 16 May 1984, lot 134 Sale, Sotheby's, New York, 4 November 1993 Private collection, New York M.S. Rau, New Orleans
L ITERAT U R E Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso: Supplement aux Annies 1920-1929, Vol. 30, Paris, 1975, p. 30, no. 73
E X H IB I T E D Roslyn Harbor, New York, The Manes Art & Education Center, Nassau County Museum of Art, Long Island Collections, May 12-August 4, 2002 Roslyn Harbor, New York, The Manes Art & Education Center, Nassau County Museum of Art, European Art Between World Wars, May 9-August 1, 2004 Roslyn Harbor, New York, The Manes Art & Education Center, Nassau County Museum of Art, Picasso, February 20-April 17, 2005 Roslyn Harbor, New York, The Manes Art & Education Center, Nassau County Museum of Art, Picasso and the School of Paris, November 19, 2006-February 4, 2007 Roslyn Harbor, New York, The Manes Art & Education Center, Nassau County Museum of Art, The Jazz Age, March 23-July 8, 2018 Roslyn Harbor, New York, The Manes Art & Education Center, Nassau County Museum of Art, Selections from the Collection of Dr. Harvey Manes, January 19-May 12, 2019
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L I T ER AT UR E
Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso: Supplement aux Annies 1920-1929, Vol. 30, Paris, 1975, no. 73
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LITERATURE
Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso: Supplement aux Annies 1920-1929, Vol. 30, Paris, 1975, no. 73
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LITERATURE
Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso: Supplement aux Annies 1920-1929, Vol. 30, Paris, 1975, no. 73
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EX H I B I T E D
Back of painting with exhibition labels
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A UC T I O N R EC O R D
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AU C T I O N C O M PA R A B L ES
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AUCTION COMPARABL ES
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M U S EUM C O M PA R A B L E S
Pablo Picasso | Seated Man 1915-16 Medium: Watercolor and gouache on off-white wove paper Dimensions: 113/8 x 87/8 inches | 28.9 × 22.5 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, United States
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MUSEUM COMPARABL ES
Pablo Picasso | Pierrot and Harlequin (recto) 1920 Medium: Pen, black ink and gouache on folded cream paper Dimensions: 103/4 x 83/8 inches | 27.3 x 21.3 cm
National Gallery of Art
Washington D.C., United States
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MUSEUM COMPARABL ES
Pablo Picasso | Man with Guitar 1915-16 Medium: Watercolor, gouache, resin and graphite on white wove paper Dimensions: 121/4 x 91/2 inches | 31.1 × 24.1 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, United States
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